Natalie Doyle looks to continue basketball career with Olivet College
JONESVILLE — Another start athlete from the Jonesville Comets girls basketball program looks to continue her athletic and academic career on the collegiate level.
Class of 2022 senior Natalie Doyle committed to Olivet College this spring. Doyle looks to play for the Olivet Comets Women’s basketball program. Doyle made the decision to play for Olivet after carefully examining several potential colleges.
Doyle continues her basketball journey that started back in elementary school, playing for Hillsdale summer travel teams. “I started playing in third grade for the Hillsdale travel team and I just kept going from there,” said Doyle.
Doyle spent many summers during her time in Jonesville playing travel basketball. The Doyle’s had a practice gym where Natalie spent time developing her game. The atmosphere of the summer tournaments and the competition helped drive her aspirations to continue her athletic career after she graduated. During those tournaments, she continued to build confidence in the game and developed into a team leader by the time her high school career started.
“To see her transition from the rec leagues in Hillsdale to middle school basketball and seeing her keep building her confidence through all those years was special,” said Joe Doyle, Natalie’s father.
Doyle spent seasons playing for the Jackson Jets travel ball league. During her time there, she got to play with several other collegiate prospects who helped continue to fuel that interest in a college basketball career.
These tournaments were attended by college scouts, and in addition with Doyle’s recruitment page on the NCSA website, helped start the recruitment process during her high school career. Olivet College plays in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and Natalie was recruited by several other schools in the conference including Adrian and Albion.
Doyle said that the small class sizes and new athletic facilities were one of several factors in her choice to play for Olivet. “It felt a lot like home,” said Doyle. In addition to the campus, Doyle’s family played a major role in her decision to play closer to home. “Olivet was closer to home and farther away,” said Doyle. Natalie wants to share her college basketball experience with her family, and the proximity of games to her family’s hometown will help keep them connected throughout the process.
Doyle will be able to play with several former opponents from her high school career. The familiarity with her new teammates also factored into her decision to join the Comets. Natalie will participate in the varsity program during her freshman year. Doyle reports to campus in early August and has already started training with her new team at open gyms during the summer.
Doyle will be the first athlete in her immediate family to participate in collegiate athletics; however, her cousins – Justin and Brett Daily – ran track for Hillsdale College.
Doyle hopes to have as much success on the court as she does in the classroom. She looks to major in environmental science with the hopes of becoming an elementary school teacher. Doyle said her career choice was influenced by her interactions with her four nieces. She also spent the last trimester of her senior year in a work-based learning program at Jonesville elementary school.
“I had a lot of fun helping and teaching those kids and watching them learn,” said Doyle.
Doyle earned several accolades while attending Jonesville high school, both on the court and in the classroom. Doyle was a four-year honor roll member and a three-year varsity letter earner. During her time with the Jonesville basketball program, Doyle received honorable mention all-conference accolades and was a member of the Hillsdale Daily News All-Area Dream Team.
During her time with the Comets, she helped the all-freshman J.V. team win the Big 8 conference girls basketball title. During her time on varsity, she helped lead the Comets to back-to-back Big 8 titles in 2021 and 2022. Doyle was a center for the Comets, and “She scored over every big during her time at Jonesville,” said Joe Doyle, Natalie’s father.
Doyle contributes her aggressive play style to head Jonesville girls basketball coach Tom Dunn. Natalie said that coach Dunn’s collegiate-like training helped her be more prepared for her transition to college basketball.
One of Natalie’s favorite memories with the Jonesville girls basketball program was their annual summer camp to Manistee, Mich. The team would participate in basketball tournaments and grow team bonds before their next school year.
Tom Dunn has coached Natalie throughout most of her high school career. Dunn watched Natalie grow into the team leader that helped the Comets win back-to-back Big 8 titles.
“Natalie was a big part of our team last year,’ said Dunn. “She was a post presence that other teams had to keep an eye on. Nat was a very coachable kid and a joy to have on our team the last 3 seasons. She will fit right in at Olivet and should be able to see some minutes right away.”
In addition to her role on the Comet basketball team, Natalie played a variety of sports for Jonesville. One of her favorite sports, and one of her most successful, was track and field. Natalie started her journey as both a thrower and runner for the Comet track team. However, during her junior season, she made the full-time transition to a thrower for Jonesville. During her junior season, she qualified for the D3 girls track state finals for shot-put. She missed out on state qualification by just half-an-inch her senior year.
Natalie finished as the top thrower in Hillsdale County during her senior year, finishing at the top of the Hillsdale Area Best Standings. Doyle finished second during her junior year, just behind teammate Allison Sanders. Doyle earned honorable mention All-Conference honors for track and field this year and earned conference honors her junior year. She finished 19th overall in her junior year at the state finals.
Doyle thanked all her coaches at Jonesville. “I want to thank them all – including coach Stanton – for helping push me to be my best,” said Doyle. Doyle thanked her siblings; her parents Joe Doyle (father), Amy Doyle (stepmother) and Christina White (mother) and her teammates for helping her along her journey.
Natalie will transition to a new role for the Olivet Comets. Natalie will move to a perimeter role for Olivet, transitioning from her center role from Jonesville. Natalie’s parents said they are excited to see Natalie step into that new role in college. “We are all really excited for her moving on to Olivet,” said Joe Doyle. Joe Doyle said that the coaches will help her work on her skills that will help Natalie transition to her new role.
Natalie’s parents were excited for the opportunity to continue to watch her play basketball for a few more seasons; the sport she had grown to love throughout her middle school and high school years:
“Watching her continue to get better every weekend and grow and love the game as much as she did was amazing,” said Christina White, Natalie’s mother. “The size of Olivet is not much bigger than Jonesville is. It’s a beautiful campus and a close-knit community. They have a room that all the basketball players study in, and I’m not worried about her academically because she’s going to get the help that she needs if she wants it.”
“Any time you watch your child compete in academics and athletics is a proud moment as a parent,” said Amy Doyle, Natalie’s stepmother. “As a parent, I am extremely proud of her and being a part of that has been wonderful and a great bonding moment for our family. We are excited to continue that journey and watch her take that next step.”
Olivet College is a private Christian college located in Olivet, Michigan. Olivet College is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Olivet offers more than 30 academic programs and a master’s degree of Business Administration in Insurance. The Olivet College Comets compete in the NCAA Division III and are aligned with the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Comet Women’s basketball team is led by head coach Peter Sabiiti.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Natalie Doyle looks to continue basketball career with Olivet College
